Mechanical toy



F. J. GORIU P MECHANICAL TOY July 13, 1937.

Filed Feb. 5, 1956' 2 Sheets-Sheet l H ANT w r,

7 6 6 INYI INTOR.

ATTORNEY.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. J. GOQRIUP MECHANICAL TOY Filed Feb. 5, 1956 July 13, 1937.

Patented July 13, 1937 UNITED STAES mi trier MECHANICAL TOY sylvania.

Application February 3, 1936, Serial No. 62,089

4 Claims. (Cl. 104-248) My invention relates to mechanical toys, and.

more particularly to the type of toy wherein a car is caused to travel on a track.

In the particular embodiment. of my invention which I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the. car is. causedto travel up an inclined track, by the. influence of a weight, into loading relation with. a storage hopper or other container where it is loaded; the load. then overbalances the. weight and the car descends the track and isautomatically unloaded so that the weight draws. the car up the track and institutes a. new cycle of operation.

One. of the. objects which I have in view is the prevention of the. derailment of the. car, which derailment would. result in the spilling. of the load which is: usually composedof sand, marbles or: other material which is easy to. load and unload... I attain this. object by means of a new and improved traveling engagement between the car and;=the track.

Another object is the provision of means whereby the toymay be packedin a small compass: but may readily and quickly be set up in operative: position. i

I" accomplish this; purpose by connectingthe trackstructureandgallows frame forthe weight sheave in hinged relation so: that they may be folded together for packing or extended to be set up'ifor'use. Moreover I provide. a. new and improved-lhopper support upon which the track and gallows frame may be detachablyyet firmly supported and: within which the track and gallows frame, after being folded together, and the car, may be stored.

Other objects and advantageous means for 340-.- complishing the same will appear from the following description.

In: the accompanying drawings, wherein I have illustrated a. practical embodiment of the principles. of my. invention, Fig. l is a side elevation of the toy with the track and gallows frame extended and, mounted in operative position rela tive'to' the hopper support, and the car shown in full lines in its loading; position and in dotted lines. in unloading or dumping position.

Fig, 2 is. a broken front elevation, looking from theleft in1Fig. l and-showing the front of the hopper support, the gallows frame and sheave and a portion of the track. 7

Fig. 3 isa sectionalview taken along the line 3.3. in Fig. 2 with the car shown. in its loading position.

Fig. 4 is a top plan. view of the toy set up for use but with no load material in the hopper.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the track and gallows frame shown extended.

7 Fig. 6' is aside elevation of the track and gal-; lows frame infolded relation and with the car on the track and in-its tilted or unloading position.

Fig. '7 is a vertical cross section of the car and the track on a slightly enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings, lit represents the support for the hopper, which support is preferably a vertical cylindrical tower or casing formed of sheet metal with its lower endopen and provided with a radially extended base H to add stability. At its rear, to the right in Fig. 1, the support or tower is provided with an elongated opening 52 which preferably extends from top to bottom.

Fixed in the upper portion of the tower l0 and forming a cross wall for the upper end of the opening l2 is a short vertical wall It from. the bottom of which a floor l t extends on an incline toward the front of the tower, the perimetral edge of the floor being arcuate to fit the wall of the tower. The floor it and the wallit are fixed to the tower as by soldering. At its lower point, which is at the front, the floor It is provided with an outlet port l5.

Below the port E5 the front wall of the tower is provided with an opening, it of greater width than the rear opening 12 but extending down a but a relatively short distance.

The bottom of the opening liiis deepened at thecenter as at El, leaving shoulders lfl at either side. 7

I9 is a valve or shutter arranged to open and close the outlet port I5. The character of this shutteris well understoodin the art and its structure not described in detail as its principles are illustrated in Letters Patent No. 995,546, issued .June 20, 1911 to Martin and Wallace. It suffices to say that it is pivotally supported beneath the port and is arranged, when freeto assume and maintain the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, toclose theport it against the outflow of sand, marbles or other loosematerial from the hopper; but when its forwardly depending lever is pushed rearwardly by the movement of the car' into its loading position, the shutter assumes itsposition shown in Fig. 3 and in full lines in Fig. 1 and functions as a chute to direct the outpouring material into'the car. g .20 represents the track which may be conveniently formed by bending up a relative narrow strip of sheet material. Atits front or outer end the track is provided with a depending leg 2| to Cir support it at proper level so that the contents of the car may be discharged into a pan or other receptacle placed at the lower end of the track.

The sides of the track are provided with depending webs 22, which at their upper edges merge in the two parallel and preferably relatively narrow wheelways 23 upon which the wheels 25 of the truck 25 run. At the inner sides of the wheelways 23 are the upwardly extending shoulders 26. Thus the truck is prevented from lateral derailment. Extending inwardly from the upper edges of the shoulders 26 are the webs 21 and at the inner edges of the webs the material is bent upwardly and then inwardly to form the two opposed angular flanges 28 which form the side walls of an elongated opening 29 along the axis of the track 28 but ending adjacent the two ends of the track as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5.

The truck 25 is provided with a longitudinally disposed bracket 30 having a pair of depending and outwardly turned L-flanges 30a which extend down through the opening 29 and engage the flanges 28 from beneath so as to have tight sliding engagement therewith.

It is obvious that the truck may be removed from the track by moving it past the ends of the flanges 28 so as to disengage the truck flanges 38 from beneath the track flanges 28.

It is apparent that during its travel along the track within the limits hereinafter mentioned, the truck and the car cannot become derailed.

The truck 25 is provided at either side with a vertical support or stand 3| which is provided with alined holes to receive the cross pin 32, and the under frame 33 of the car body 3 4 is provided with depending webs 35 which fit between the standards 3! and are provided with registering holes through which the pin 32 extends. Thus the under frame is pivoted on the truck on a horizontal axis.

The car body 34 is shown as of a well known type with its rear end and sides closed and its front open. The body is fixed to the under frame 33 and the same is balanced so that the body normally maintains and returns to the substantially horizontal position shown in Fig. 3 and also in full lines in Fig. 1. The beveled rear of the under frame being in this position is supported by the rear portion of the truck.

Adjacent its rear the under frame 25 is pro- Vided with a rigid depending lever 36, which lever engages the front end wall of the opening 29 as the car reaches the outer end of the track, and thus causes the car and underframe to tilt counterclockwise in Figs. 1 and 2 until the front end of the under frame contacts with the truck. This position of the car is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. l, and it results in discharging the contents of the car. The engagement of the lever 36 with the outer end of the track opening 29 also limits the downward or outward travel of the car and thus prevents the car being accidentally disengaged from the track.

3! represents the gallows frame for the weight sheave 3B. The gallows frame is formed of the two bars 39 converging toward their rear ends where they are provided with bearing holes for the axle if of the sheave which is thus rotatably supported between the bars. The bars are held in rigid relation as by a cross web 6|. The outer ends of the bars 39 fit between the webs 22 of the track 28 and are pivotally attached or hinged thereto by the cross shaft 42. One of the bars is provided with a bracket 43 which when the gallows frame is extended in relation to the track 20, as illustrated in Fig. 1, engages the track from beneath and prevents the dropping down of the sheave end of the gallows frame. However the gallows frame may be folded up over the track as shown in Fig. 6 for packing. The front edge of the bracket 33 is straight and when the track and bracket are aligned and mounted on the tower the edge of the bracket bears against the wall of the tower from the inside, as shown in Fig. 3 and helps brace the track and gallows frame in place.

The width of the track is sufficient to permit it to fit in the front opening [6 of the tower between the shoulders [8 with sufficient snugness to prevent material lateral shifting of the track, and the webs 22 are provided adjacent their upper ends with slots 44 extending upwardly from their lower edges at such an angle that when the track is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3 said slots will receive and fit snugly down over the bottom edge ll of the opening I6 and thus hold the track in place and extending forwardly and downwardly from the tower while the extended gallows frame protrudes rearwardly from the opening I2. The width of the upper portion of the opening it is sufficient to permit the entrance of the rear portion of the car therein as the latter assumes its loading position.

A cord 45 is attached as at 46 to the rear end of the under frame of the car and runs down over the sheave 38 and has attached to its end a weight 41 of sufiicient value to cause the empty car to ascend the track and assume its loading position but light enough to permit the loaded car to descend the track to its unloading position.

The cycle of operations of the car will be obvious to those familiar with the automatic mechanical toy art. The loading used to operate the car may be sand, marbles or any other easily running character.

The width of the rear opening I2 is sufiicient to permit the track and gallows frame when folded to be inserted into the interior of the tower for packing. The car remains on the track in such case and is also received into the tower.

Thus the toy may be quickly and conveniently packed into small compass and may as readily be set up and put into operation.

I claim:

1. An integral track structure formed of bent sheet metal and comprising parallel horizontally spaced wheel tracks, longitudinal shoulders adjacent the tracks for guiding a car, and a slotted opening between the tracks extending longitudinally of the structure, the longitudinal edges of jacent the tracks for guiding a car, and a slotted opening between the tracks extending longitudinally of the structure, the metal forming the longitudinal edges of the opening being in the form of inwardly extending angular flanges forming anti-derailment means.

3. The combination with an inclined track having longitudinally disposed anti-derailment means, of a car comprising a four wheeled truck arranged to travel on said track and a dump-body pivotally mounted on the truck, means for tilting the body when the car reaches the lower end of the track, and means depending from the truck and arranged to engage the anti-derailment means from beneath to prevent the derailment 0f the truck as the body is tilted.

4. The combination with an inclined track having longitudinally disposed anti-derailment means, of a car comprising a four wheeled truck arranged to travel on said track and a dumpbody pivotally mounted on the truck, means for tilting the body relative to the truck when the car reaches the lower end of the track to discharge the load, means depending from the truck and arranged to engage said anti-derailment means to prevent the derailment of the truck as the body is tilted, and a counterbalance weight connected to the rear end of the body to return the body to its normal position relative to the truck and to return the car to the upper end of the track.

FRANK J. GORIUP. 

